A working party will explore how online voting can be introduced in the next local body elections, says Local Government Minister Chris Tremain today.

Voter turnout at the weekend's 2013 election is the lowest recorded, with an expected voter turnout of 40 per cent.

The Government has announced it will investigate having online voting in the next local body elections.

The local body election turnout in Tauranga was lower at 37.4 per cent with 31,670 voting papers counted. In the 2010 local body elections Tauranga voters had a 43.45 per cent turn out with 34,914 votes counted.

'Figures as far back as 1962 show voter turnout at local body elections is traditionally low, but I am concerned that it is on a slow decline,” says Chris today.

'Online voting is definitely the way of the future. However, there are risks involved in transferring to an online system, so it is important we clearly understand those risks before making any final decision. Accessibility for all voters is a critical consideration in any move forward.

'The government has invested in online verification technology, RealMe, which will enable secure authentication of a person's identity for online voting.”

The working party, announced before the local body elections, is tasked with establishing the technical, financial, and security issues involved in online voting.

In addition, they will now also be looking at the possibility of having full online voting available at the next local body elections, says Chris. But there will have to be a significant trial before 2016.

'I will also be inviting the Justice and Electoral Committee, who conduct reviews of local and national elections, to investigate other initiatives that will lift voter turnout,” says Chris.

'Part of this will be considering the confusion created by the single transferable voting system especially when voters are presented with two voting systems on the same voting papers.

'Another issue that has been raised, post the elections, has been the three week voting timeframe, so it would be timely to consider this as well. Online voting will give people more choice but on its own will not solve low voter turnout.”